Chapter 39

Lately, Arin had been more worried than ever.

After working with Hayoon the last time, she had confirmed that the sponsorship had reached a staggering 200 million won.

What’s more, the target of 300 million won for her cosplay promise was now only a few thousand won away.

“Haa, my heart… Is it arrhythmia?”

Was it because she found herself in the unfamiliar situation of selling her own cosplay shots to others for the first time?

Was it because her cosplay was now to be evaluated purely by the logic of capital, rather than superficial compliments like “The quality is good” or “You’re pretty”?

Her heart was pounding uncontrollably from the overwhelming tension.

“Not really, right? It can’t be… It won’t happen…”

With each passing day, the sponsorships kept rising, meaning the promised cosplay was drawing near. Arin tried to deny the reality.

She hoped the explosive rise in sponsorship would slow down.

She hoped the amount would stop increasing at 29,999,000 won.

“This isn’t the kind of success I wanted!”

Trying to relieve her frustration,

She yelled loudly in her room where she was alone.

But there was no turning back once the ship had sailed.

The sponsorships already received weren’t about to disappear.

“Why is it going this well?”

She asked, feeling aggrieved about the situation, though deep down, Arin already knew the answer.

“Ugh, you stupid brat…”

Simply put, Arin’s frame of mind had been overly optimistic.

Her benchmark was the level of high school club projects, or at best, university graduation projects.

She thought they should be grateful if sponsorships reached 10 million won and, with that mindset, accepted the 30 million won target suggested by Hayoon.

Unfortunately, Arin had focused only on the fact that they were high school students and overlooked the fact that Hayoon was an exceptional new creator who had appeared like a comet in Patreon, where stable monthly earnings of over 2 million won were possible.

She should have realized that if an illustrator’s art, which consistently earned that much money, was featured in a non-novel format, it would naturally have competitiveness based only on its art.

She should have also considered that her background art, image scripts, and Live 2D production skills were of such high quality that they had earned Hayoon’s approval.

Ignoring all these crucial points, she had approached the matter with an overly complacent attitude, thinking they would make 30 million won.

“But still, there are only a few days left, right? If things stay calm for a few more days, maybe we can avoid cosplay!”

Eventually, as things had progressed too far, Arin started to deny reality.

However, unfortunately…

Even if Hayoon hadn’t drawn attention in her broadcasts, or if Usogeon hadn’t virally spread it recklessly to catch the attention of water buffalo mobs,

“Cosplay Holic” would have reached the 30 million won milestone anyway.

“Hey, damn it. The art style seems to be coming out?”

“Is something like this really being made domestically?”

“Wow, damn. The goods selection is great.”

Cosplay Holic had already gained wide recognition in the domestic visual novel-related communities.

Despite the domestic visual novel fans who had mockingly referred to themselves as “worthless handfuls” while lamenting the lack of profitable projects in the market after the shift in the domestic VN market focusing on internet broadcasting in the late 2010s,

Since the domestic visual novel market and the funding market had become integrated, those “handfuls” had formed a culture where each work inevitably received sponsorship worth around 20 million won.

With top-tier art in Cosplay Holic and casting professional voice actors, raising around 30 million won wasn’t a difficult task.

As if to prove this,

“Buzzzzzzz.”

Arin’s phone began to vibrate incessantly.

The caller was…

“Uh, uh… Hayoon?”

It was Hayoon.

Arin wiped her pounding heart and waited for Hayoon’s first words.

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence followed.

Then Hayoon’s first words were:

“Sis.”

“Hmm, why…?”

“Sis, what kind of clothes do you want to wear?”

Immediately, cold sweat trickled down Arin’s spine.

Clothes? What’s this about?

Why are we talking about clothes right after the call?

Surely not…

Nah, surely not…

While these thoughts swirled in her mind,

“What kind of clothes?”

Her mouth moved, asking Hayoon, refusing to think further.

Then Hayoon responded:

“Well, there’s maid, bane girl, female butler, policewoman, all kinds of things, right?”

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

It was like a death sentence for Arin.

The sponsorship

Had indeed reached 30 million won.

There were ten days left until the funding concluded.

#

After a brief commotion,

Arin pleaded softly.

“Do we have to cosplay?”

“It’s a promise, sis. A promise. I’m not asking you to work for free, and you’re the one who made the promise.”

“Uh, right… A promise is a promise…”

However, the voice coming from the speaker was resolute.

It couldn’t be any other way.

In Hayoon’s eyes, Arin’s appearance was far from something to belittle.

Initially, Hayoon had created her status window to reflect an ideal image of femininity, and various traits like ‘Empress Aura’ were also applied.

But, Arin was in a different league.

It’s simply that she was born beautiful.

She had a great figure, a pretty face, and her makeup and fashion sense were much more mature compared to Hayoon.

From how she naturally adopted poses that men like during photo shoots, it’s clear she instinctively knows what poses appeal to the camera, whether consciously or not.

Not to mention, she’s young!

Her age is appealing across all demographic groups. A fresh university student who receives more adoration than a new employee.

A newcomer who receives more love than a regular university student.

A high school student who is even younger and cuter than a new university student.

Why would anyone choose someone unfamiliar when they could have her, someone who’s even adorable and young? Hayoon believed there’s no reason to.

“Sis, you should have a little more confidence. Okay? Sis is pretty. If we make a cosplay book, it will definitely sell. There’s no way reviews would be anything but positive. Just believe in me a little, okay?”

So, Hayoon focused on boosting Arin’s somewhat lacking self-esteem.

“Sis, we’ve already made 30 million won. Was it something I did alone? Sis provided the background and animation work, which received good feedback from users, leading to the successful funding of the goods?”

“That’s, that’s right…”

“And I’m the one telling you that you’re pretty. Shouldn’t you trust me a little more this time? Hmm?”

“That’s…”

“That?”

“Right…”

In the end, as the dry sobs continued, Arin nodded.

It was the same as before.

Arin joined the Cosplay Holic creation team because Hayoon praised her artwork and animations, and she was happy about it.

Now Hayoon is pleading with her to do cosplay together, something that’s been her secret hobby that she’s never mentioned to anyone, while telling her she’s pretty and capable.

There was no way Arin could refuse Hayoon’s request in such a situation.

“I’ll do it…”

Covering her beet-red face with both hands, Arin managed to convey her will through the microphone.

“Thank you. Truly.”

Hayoon understood well how much Arin must have agonized over the decision, and expressed her gratitude with a simple phrase.

While Hayoon was compelled to make money by any means necessary due to her status window and even considered revealing her face for the build-up of her broadcasting career, Arin wasn’t in that situation.

“If the project fails…”

“Hmm?”

“If the evaluation is bad, I won’t take more pictures…”

As expected.

“Same condition.”

Arin set another condition again.

She’d cooperate this time, but if the evaluation went poorly, there wouldn’t be a second attempt.

Hayoon knew what to say in this situation.

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t fail.”

“You want me to do it twice?”

“If our series of Cosplay Books featuring the beautiful production team goes viral, that alone could be a lucrative opportunity, couldn’t it?”

“Do we really have to make that much money?”

“The more money, the better.”

“True, I guess…”

I’ll make sure it doesn’t fail.

We’ll make a lot of money.

This was the best Hayoon could offer Arin, and it seemed Arin wanted to hear those words as she returned to a calmer expression.

“I’m suddenly hungry…”

“You can bring snacks if you like. Let’s chat and draw like we usually do today?”

“Sure, let’s.”

They settled into a brief period of peace where Arin returned with some snacks, and both Hayoon and Arin turned on their respective work tools, focusing on the image script for the main story.

Thus, they seemed to be returning faithfully to their individual roles despite the brief chaos…

“Where will we shoot, though?”

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Arin raised a question.

“Is it even possible to rent a studio lately? There’ve been a number of news stories about closures due to COVID, and finding a good photographer amidst all this won’t be easy either.”

In these times, finding a decent studio and a skilled photographer wasn’t exactly like plucking stars from the sky.

She wondered how they would handle this.

“Hmm, um…”

Hayoon faltered, as if a thought had struck her.

‘True, where should we shoot?’

The first thing that came to mind was the photography studio run by Yoon Suhee, where they could conduct the photoshoot…

‘But that’s my mom.’

Wouldn’t it be awkward to pose for cosplay photos in front of her mother?

It wasn’t going to be easy.

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